South Texas Coast News

A storm system brewing in the Gulf of Mexico could strengthen into a named storm as it takes aim at the Texas coast, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Monday.The system, named Potential Tropical Cyclone 9, was about 480 miles (770 km) east-southeast of Port Mansfield, Texas and was packing maximum sustained winds of 30 miles (45 km) per hour, the Miami-based hurricane center said. It could cause coastal flooding along the south Texas coast between Monday night and Tuesday…

Residents fleeing most powerful storm on U.S. mainland since 2005. Businesses closed and lines of cars streamed out of coastal Texas as officials called for residents to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Harvey, expected to arrive about midnight as the most powerful storm to hit the U.S. mainland in more than a decade. The hurricane is forecast to slam first near Corpus Christi, Texas, drop flooding rains along the central Texas coast and potentially loop back over the Gulf of Mexico before hitting Houston, some models showed. "My urgent message to my fellow Texans is that if you live in a region where evacuation has been ordered, you need to heed that advice and get out of harm's way while you can," Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a televised address.

Hurricane Harvey intensified early on Friday into potentially the most powerful hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland in more than a decade, as authorities warned locals to shelter from what could be life-threatening winds and floods. Harvey is set to make landfall late Friday or early Saturday on the central Texas coast where Corpus Christi and Houston are home to some of the biggest U.S. refineries. Oil and gas operations have already been disrupted and gasoline prices have spiked. "Now is the time to urgently hide from the wind.

U.S. Coast Guard crews at Station South Padre Island have completed the qualification and trial run process, Tuesday, for the new 45-foot-Response Boat-Medium that was delivered to the station in late February. The training focused on acclimating the crews to the boat's advanced response capabilities. With twin diesel engines using water-jet propulsion, the RB-M can respond faster than previous boats of similar size and has a top speed in excess of 40 knots. It has advanced search capability with an installed forward-looking infrared search technology. Additionally, with twin jet propulsion, the vessel is extremely maneuverable and is better suited to respond to mariners in distress and law enforcement operations.

Effective shoreline clean-up efforts are on-going, Saturday, along Mustang, South Matagorda and North Padre islands in response to the Texas City oil spill. As of sunset Friday, response workers have removed a total of 200,775 pounds of oiled sand and oiled debris from the shorelines of Mustang, North Padre and South Matagorda islands. These figures include 102,700 pounds of oiled material from Mustang Island, 93,550 pounds from South Matagorda and 4,525 pounds from shoreline around Bob Hall pier.

Schmidt Ocean Institute's 'R/V Falkor' to advance studies of artificial reefs, red tides & uncharted regions of the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists with the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies (HRI) and the College of Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi will study the oceanography of the South Texas coast, including influences on the distribution of red tide while aboard the R/V Falkor later this month. The R/V Falkor is being provided by…